Mumbo Gumbo

Chicken & Okra Gumbo

I didn't quite follow this recipe to a tee. First of all, I don't think I purchased the correct chicken. I ended up getting a rotisserie chicken and then just pulling the meat off. Because of this, I did not do the first step of the recipe where it says to boil in water (this apparently makes the chicken broth). So, I just bough some chicken broth and used that when it was time to add. It worked out nicely. The step with the flour and the oil - yeah I think I kind of burnt that - but it didn't seem to affect the taste of the end product at all. After allowing   it   to   simmer   for 

 an  hour  and  a  half, I added the pulled chicken and allowed it to simmer for another ten minutes or so. This gumbo was perfect over rice (like the recipe suggests) and is quite delicious. I've never had okra before, and though it's really nothing special, I am glad that I've finally had it. Thumbs up on this recipe. I wouldn't recommend making it on a weeknight (unless you don't work during the day) because of the long simmer time, but it's a great treat on a cold night like we have been having in St. Louis. ​

South - Chicken 

Click here for Taste of Home recipe
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Sweet Potato Muffins

Sweet potatoes have started to become very popular: sweet potato fries, sweet potato chips, etc. And these have never been something I thought tasted good. But these sweet potato muffins are excellent! The recipe doesn't explain how to create the "mashed potatoes." So what I did was boil some water, cut up the potatoes into smaller pieces (they were still pretty big since my knives kind of suck) and boiled them for a half hour. Thank goodness I just bought a masher for those refried beans! After allowing them  to  cool  in  the  fridge,  I  proceeded  to  the

muffin recipe which was pretty easy. Instead of orange peel, I used some orange extract - probably too much since I didn't exactly measure it - but it's definitely not overwhelming in orange taste. I definitely recommend this recipe if you're looking for a muffin recipe for either dessert or breakfast. I now have some extra mashed sweet potatoes though, perhaps I can put some brown sugar and butter on it for a nice "snack" later? I'll give this recipe a Thumbs up. Delish.

South - Side - Bakery

Click here for Taste of Home recipe

​[Recipes 16-17]